Fans invited to night of dinner and Shamrocks stories

All-ages hot-stove debut is fundraiser for alumni

Refreshments will likely be flowing and so, too, will the stories as the Victoria Shamrocks prepare for their first-ever lacrosse hotstove event, Tuesday evening at the Metropolitan Grill at Four Points Sheraton.

The all-ages event will be held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. with team play-by-play man Teddy Jenner and former radio personality Steve Duffy acting as emcees for the evening.

Current Shamrocks players Rhys Duch, Corey Small, and Tyler Burton will be joined by star alumni players Kevin Alexander, Grant Hamilton and Bert Bertoia for the night of stories.

“I think it’s going to be a fun night and it will give fans a great opportunity to talk to some of the stars of now and stars of the past, and they’ll hear some stories. It’ll be a good time,” said Jenner.

“Obviously, knowing the guys, it will not be hard to find stories. That’ll be the easy part. A guy like Kevin Alexander, he can talk for the whole night. Getting someone like Burton to tell a story or some of the other guys to open up a bit will be the tougher part.”

Plans are to team up one of the current Shamrocks with one from the past in three sessions of two speakers.

Jenner should have some tales himself as he won the Mann Cup with the Shamrocks in 2003 and 2005, and actually got to the national championship in his first five years in the league.

“We obviously lost three. The 2002 one still stings because we were down 3-0 came back and forced Game 7. Got up 7-1 about halfway through that game and lost. That one always stings because it would have been the Mann Cup on the road,” recalled Jenner.

“To win two in front of hometown family and friends were some of the best times ever,” added Jenner, who also calls play-by-play for the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League.

Alexander played on two Mann Cup championship teams in 1979 and 1983, and led the Western Lacrosse Association in scoring for five of six years between 1980-85.

He was also inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Hamilton was named the WLA most valuable player, leading Victoria to their ninth league championship in 1997 and Bertoia suited up for the Shamrocks in 1957, ’58 and ’59 as one of the leading scorers each year. He won the Mann Cup in 1957 and went on to coach the team in 1966, ’70 and ’71.

Tickets for the night are tabbed at $50, which includes your dinner, a drink and the fan experience, with proceeds going to the Shamrocks alumni.